Fate: Hammer Time

by TedTheRabbit

Shirou Emiya wanted to become a hero. That was clear to all who truly know him. For a long time though, he lacked the power to actually achieve that goal. No longer. No longer will he lack the power, now that the Hammer of the Odinson has chosen him as new wielder. Prepare for Thunder. ShirouxMultiple, Thor-Shirou.

22. Truths Revealed

Truths Revealed

---

Fujimura Raiga took in the news of an invading force with a cold and expressionless face. The only tell of possible nervousness on his part was the barely noticeable tightening of his jaw, something he only allowed himself because he was alone in his office. If anyone else had been present, except maybe Taiga or Shirou, he would have been completely stone-faced, to prevent his reputation from falling.

It seemed a bit excessive to worry so much about an almost unnoticeable crack in his façade like tightening his jaw a tiny bit, but it wasn't so much about the act itself as it was about the principle of the thing.

A large part of being a ruler in the underworld was one's image. It wasn't enough to be capable, you had to look and act the part as well. There was no room for mistakes or carelessness in dealing with criminals, where any sign of weakness was something to be preyed upon.

It had to be said though, that running a Yakuza-family was not nearly as strenuous and uncertain as running a ragtag group of gangsters. Raiga at least did not always have to watch over his shoulder for over-ambitious underlings, and neither did he need to kill someone every few days to keep his men in line, or deal with his own rebellious offspring.

That said, he did have to take care to not seem like a wuss, as his dear granddaughter would put it, meaning any signs of nervousness were unacceptable. He and his men were still the leaders of the Fuyuki-City underworld, and that title was not easy to keep. Occasionally, he too had to show his fangs.

It wasn't like he was short of opportunities to do so. Many had challenged him over the years, and many would continue to challenge him. Raiga had never lost to them however, and with the way things were going, he never would either.

In all honesty though, defeating his challengers hadn't been that hard. Most of them were nothing special, and easily taken care of when their badly concocted plans inevitably fell apart.

Take the newest brat on the block for instance, the one who had already attacked several cities throughout Japan in the hopes of muscling out the current leaders and replacing them with loyal toadies.

His plan was nothing more than a ridiculous attempt at a power-grab. Even if his schemes succeeded and he took over a city or two, he would never be able to hold onto power for long. Towns and cities weren't just dots on a map that you could plant a little flag on and claim to have conquered. Taking over a city took years upon years of application of both hard and soft power, violence and negotiation, the carrot and the stick, with negotiations and carrots being the main weapons if you wanted a long and lasting reign.

An empire quickly conquered would always be the quickest to crumble. That was nothing more than common sense, generally known and accepted knowledge from before Raiga was even born. In the past, every single criminal, high or low, was aware of these gems of wisdom, and few tried to act in defiance of them, because those who did often died before reaching thirty years of age.

Unfortunately, many ambitious youngsters these days ignored those lessons, no longer having any respect for proper procedures, instead choosing to try and carve out a place for themselves with the barrel of a gun.

It was not surprising they all died within months, usually at the hands of their most trusted underlings or relatives. That, or their entire organisation was rolled up by the police.

Considering the Brat was just the latest gangster on that very long list of unimpressive younglings, Raiga wasn't too concerned about his impending attack on Fuyuki-City. All the reports he'd received from his spies so far told him the attacking force was nothing impressive, and considering he had many well-trained men under him and he was an experienced leader, Raiga felt quite safe.

Really, the only reason the Brat had been able to get anywhere in the first place wasn't because of his skill, which was clearly sorely lacking in many different ways, but because of an outside influence.

Rakurai. The dreaded vigilante.

It wasn't that Rakurai had directly helped the Brat rise to power, certainly not, but the vigilante's deeds, as grand and good-natured as they were, had nevertheless contributed significantly to the Brat's current successes.

By removing several key-elements of Japan's underworld, that bastard Oni being the most notable, he had ripped away part of the foundation said underworld rested upon, sending everything and everyone into disarray.

At first, everyone had been too disoriented to react properly, but now that the shock had passed, people were moving to take advantage of the chaos.

Cowards and jackals, the lot of them. Trying to get a piece of the meat now that the dragon had killed the lions. All running around claiming that the situation was perfect for them, that they had been born to navigate the anarchy, that 'chaos was a laddah'.

What nonsense. Chaos may have granted the snakes of society some temporary boons, but those people would find themselves eaten in turn before long.

Until that moment however, those snakes could do an unfortunate amount of damage, and the only thing you could do about them was either damage control, or preferably, preventing them from ever becoming important in the first place.

Well, thanks to the current situation, made possible in no small part by Rakurai himself, the Brat was now making himself important, leaving damage control the only viable option.

Rakurai had definitely made a right mess of things, and while Raiga was sure that it wasn't intentional, it was still making life difficult for him.

The biggest problem with Rakurai's approach to fighting crime was the suddenness of it all. From one moment to the next, he had just appeared, taking down criminals and entire gangs in a matter of days, without ever being noticed or hindered by anything in his way. No one knew who he, or maybe even she, was. No one had any idea what their endgame was, what they wanted, what they could do, or even what their next step would be.

For the regular criminal Joe, that was terrifying. For all that Joe knew, the vigilante could target him the very next night, and there would be nothing they could do against it, as Rakurai had never been seen, never been caught on camera, and had never failed to achieve his objectives.

Simply said, the people involved in organised crime were scared, not thinking well, and prone to lashing out, and that was bound to cause trouble.

It was all too easy for people like the Brat to move in and promise safety, that they would handle Rakurai, which led to the common criminal, who would normally scoff at such an upstart, following them, simply out of fear and a desire to band together against that which threatened them.

Of course, the army the Brat had built was a house of cards, built on sand and salt, and Rakurai could make it topple in one night simply by removing the leaders, but for some reason, the vigilante hadn't done so yet.

Raiga didn't like that sudden passiveness much.

Still, as annoying as that upstart Brat was, he was hardly the thing Raiga worried about the most. He didn't fear blustering pathetic men, he feared their exact opposite.

Silent, competent people, moving slowly to take advantage of the chaos without risk. They did not blatantly attack other factions, but slowly spread their influence like a weed, aiming to infest as many places as possible before a new balance was reached.

Those people were the ones you really needed to be afraid of. The ones who would rip your throne out from under you before you even realised it. The ones that formed an actual threat to the current establishment.

They were the kind of people who would not hesitate to attack Taiga or Shirou, and would not shirk from blackmailing his trusted employees. They would even call for assassination and murder should they deem it profitable.

The killing of that man in prison, Kurata, was only a prelude. An execution of a traitor, to test the waters, so to speak.

It was quite strange, and wondrous, how much influence one anonymous person could have on an entire country. Rakurai needed to be stopped, and Raiga furiously hoped someone would be able to do so before it was too late. Raiga would have done it himself, if he only knew who the vigilante really was-

"GRAMPS!"

Raiga was roused from his introspection by his granddaughter storming into his office, the door slamming into the wall and bouncing right back into the lock, and he muttered a quick prayer for the wall to have remained undamaged.

"What is it, Taiga?" He then asked. "I believe it is almost time for dinner, isn't it? Shouldn't you be at Shirou's place in a few minutes?"

"Well, yes, but I'm sure that can wait." Taiga answered dismissively. "Right now, I want to know what the hell you're doing with all those weapons you recently bought."

Ah yes, those recent purchases he made and didn't tell Taiga about. Raiga winced, knowing that as a high-ranking subordinate, his granddaughter did have a right to know about weapons-purchases. That he had failed to inform her was a rather blatant violation of family-rules, yet he felt that it was a necessary one.

"I was going to do so later," he explained, remaining strong under her accusing eyes. "I did not tell you yet because you are quite loose-lipped, and I didn't want this kind of information to get out. Firearms are serious business, Taiga."

"I'm not loose-lipped!" She protested indignantly.

"You revealed our three most recent operations to Sakura and Shirou on the very day that I informed you of them." Raiga deadpanned.

"Ghk? Eh… you know about that?" Taiga's aggression disappeared instantly. "Ahahaha, I can explain…"

"No need, as long as only Sakura and Shirou hear of it there is no risk. However, this specific matter really cannot go any further than the family, Taiga, and now that you found out, I urge you to stay silent, or I'll have to place you under house arrest."

"Roger." Taiga said, straightening her back, snapping an American salute. "I do have to ask though why we have purchased those things. It isn't like you to prepare for so much violence."

Raiga thought for a moment, before he sighed. It really would be for the best to tell her about his musings. It wouldn't do for her to be unprepared, so some information about the Brat and about Rakurai's role in the recent unrest in the underworld would be prudent.

So with that in mind, he told her.

He had expected a lot of different reactions from Taiga. Anger at the Brat perhaps, or indignation at the upcoming attack. There was a large chance that she would be sad because of the deaths that had occurred, and probably also slightly defensive of Rakurai, whom she treated like one of her personal idols.

He had not expected her to turn pale when he revealed the vigilante's part in this, nor the very short flash of guilt that he saw in her eyes.

"W-Well, y-you can hardly expect Rakurai to know about all of that." She spluttered after he finished his explanation. "It isn't his fault the underworld is so fucked up!"

"Language! And yes, I agree, to an extent. I'm not trying to say Rakurai is actively malicious or uncaring, though he is a fool for being so short-sighted. I'm only trying to explain how things have got so far out of hand that I'm ordering firearms."

His granddaughter still looked outright mutinous for a few seconds, her eyes and stance suggesting she would happily fight any of Rakurai's detractors, before she deflated with a sigh, her eyes downcast.

"Right," she mumbled, looking very dejected. "I suppose you're right."

It took all the self-control Raiga had to start gaping in shock. Taiga looking dejected? That was unnatural! She didn't get sad like that; she didn't do sad. Had he been too harsh just now? Was she sad because he'd been bad-mouthing Rakurai so much, was that it?

No, then she would have gotten mad at him, not dejected. She only got dejected when things upset her to a point she didn't know what to do about it, when she couldn't find any way to improve a situation.

As her grandfather, he couldn't allow that to stand.

"Taiga," he started carefully, sounding as neutral and unjudging as he could. "Is something wrong? Are you mad about the matter with Rakurai-?"

That was as far as he got. As soon as the word 'Rakurai' left his mouth, Taiga's head shot up so fast he was surprised she didn't snap her neck clean in half. Her eyes were wide, with a surprising tinge of guilt visible in them.

"NO! I-I mean, n-no, not at all," she spluttered, waving her hands in front of her and laughing sheepishly. "I-I just h-had my mind elsewhere, n-nothing's going on, hahahaha. I suppose I was just a little surprised about everything that's been happening, you know. So much going on."

Such spluttered denials and forced laughter wouldn't have convinced a stranger, let alone him.

Perhaps seeing the unconvinced look in his eyes, Taiga started inching towards the door, still smiling brightly, clearly intending to make an escape.

Though her behaviour was certainly suspicious, Raiga didn't call her back. She was unlikely to tell him anything if she didn't want to, and he had a lot to think about right now.

"I'll just be going now. T-To dinner, where Shirou and Sakura are waiting for me, who have nothing to do with this." Taiga grinned, scuffling out of the door before saying one last thing. "A-And please forget all of that about Rakurai, it doesn't interest me at all, and I know nothing about it. Bye!"

A lot to think about.

---

Shirou frowned as he looked at the katana-shaped Mystic Code in front of him, the one he'd taken from the Magi during the battle at the castle, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

By itself, the Code wasn't anything special or mind-blowing, not even to a Third-Rate like Shirou. He had seen his father's Mystic Code after all, and he had heard about the Mystic Code of Kayneth Archibald, Volumen Hydrargyrum, which couldn't measure up against his father's gun, but was a good Code nonetheless.

Compared to it, the Mystic Code that Shirou had in front of him right now was rather lacklustre. The ability to easily cut Magically Reinforced materials at the cost of being less effective against mundane materials was rather nice, but not something that would really baffle any Magus.

What did baffle Shirou however were the five copies of that Mystic Code lying right next to it, each of them having a very similar appearance, a similar composition, and similar properties as the original, down to the very Mystery that made it a Mystic Code.

Copies that he had just Projected.

Shirou had never known that it was possible to Project actual Mystic Codes, even with his Tracing-ability, and to find out that he of all people was capable of such an amazing thing was shocking.

Now, they weren't perfect copies by any means. The tips and edges of the copies were blunter, the Magecraft empowering the blades was weaker by about a fifth, the metal was thinner, and several other differences were clear with a single Structural Grasping. Some of them just plain lacked any and all Mystery, leaving them just regular blades that happened to look the same as the original. The copies only existed for a short time too, depending on how accurate the particular copy was. The more similar to the original they were, the longer they lasted.

Still, despite those limitations, Shirou saw a lot of potential in this. If he sharpened his skills in Tracing, he might one day be able to create near-perfect copies of Mystic Codes. He would have to be blind not to realise what that would mean.

All he had to do was picture the Code in his mind's eye, something incredibly easy for him, and go through some processes that he didn't quite get yet…

…Judging the concept of creation…

…Hypothesising the basic structure…

…Duplicating the composition material…

…Imitate… s-something…

…Sympathising… w-with the weapon?...

…Some other steps that laid just beyond his grasp...

…and then use his Magical Energy to construct the resulting model, and he had a copy. And another copy, and another, and another, and then yet another. It was even easier than Projecting pots and pans.

Which was not a new phenomenon, now that he thought about it. Shirou had noticed early on that knives were much easier for him to Project than other objects, with a much lower cost in Magical Energy too.

He had already drawn a tentative conclusion back then that he may have a sort of specialisation concerning weaponry, something that had interested his father a great deal, but further experimentation showed he had absolutely no affinity with guns or any kind of firearms, at least not beyond an average Magus', meaning his theory had been disproven.

Now he wondered if they hadn't drawn conclusions too quickly. Perhaps he had a specialisation concerning bladed weapons? Or all weapons except firearms, but including maces, hammers, and other blunt weaponry? Perhaps he could even project shields? What about grenades or bullets? The fact that he had just projected five copies of a sword-shaped Mystic Code did seem to suggest he had at least some kind of affinity for weapons.

More evidence and research were needed before he could be certain, so perhaps it was best if he just shelved the matter for now. There would undoubtedly be far more opportunity to study his newfound talents once he was at the Clocktower.

Shirou huffed, almost feeling amused at the concept of him actually doing research at the Clocktower. He might just become a proper Magus at this rate.

All jokes aside, if he could Project perfect copies of Mystic Codes as long as they were weapon-like in shape, he could effectively carry around an arsenal everywhere he went. He would have to be blind and stupid to forego such an incredible advantage.

Granted, he already had an amazing hammer, but more weapons could never hurt. It wasn't like Mjolnir was the jealous type either. It seemed to get along pretty well with Avalon so far, and it didn't give any signs of disapproval when Shirou thought about getting other weapons.

Turning his attention to the Mystic Codes in front of him, Shirou dismissed the ones he had Projected and put the original back into his Vault for safekeeping.

Shirou then made his way over to the living room. Sakura was currently out shopping with Ayako to buy some clothes and other 'feminine articles', as Ayako called it, so he was alone. He couldn't start making dinner, as Sakura had made him promise they would work together on it, but there was too little time to do anything worthwhile before she returned.

With nothing to do to keep himself occupied, his mind automatically wandered back to what had happened a few days ago, when Tohsaka and Sakura had had a blazing row, resulting in Sakura almost bodily throwing Tohsaka out of the house.

It was a terrible situation, and Shirou found himself stumped on ways to fix it. There was no one he could beat up, no one to put behind bars, all who were guilty were already dead, and what was left behind seemed unfixable. Neither girl wanted to talk to the other, out of guilt and awkwardness and hurt, and Shirou couldn't force them to do so either.

Shirou had wracked his brain over the past few days for anything he could do that would actually help Sakura and Rin, but he couldn't think of anything. He wasn't good at fixing emotional issues, especially not if they were so serious.

It was rather pathetic for a future Hero of Justice, but he really was stuck.

All he could come up with was to support the girls to the best of his ability, to stand with them, and show that they weren't alone. He wasn't confident in his ability to meddle or to reconciliate, but he could at the very least try to make sure they weren't individually depressed.

It wasn't much, especially for someone who wanted to become a hero, but it was all he could do at the moment. He would do his best, and hope that it would count for something.

---

"This shirt is so cute, you should absolutely try it on," Ayako proclaimed, waving the aforementioned shirt in Sakura's face. "I mean it this time, you won't get out of this one. Come on, try it!"

Sakura's smile was somewhat strained as she tried to find an excuse to avoid having to try on yet another piece of clothing, but ultimately failed as she was shoved into the nearest changing room by the exuberant brunette.

The shirt itself was a pretty thing, light purple with frilly sleeves and a high neckline, and normally, Sakura would have been glad to add it to her wardrobe. However, her heart wasn't really in it at the moment. She wasn't in this shop right now because she wanted clothes. She was in this shop because Ayako had forcibly dragged her inside, as the brunette wanted to distract herself from the upcoming conversation with Shirou.

They had planned for the fateful confession of love to happen that very same day, after dinner, and Ayako had spent the entire afternoon going around town doing anything that would distract her, taking Sakura along with her.

Sakura wasn't happy to see her friend so nervous. If the upcoming conversation was indeed that stress-inducing, then she needed to have a good talk with the brunette before it would take place.

She hastily pulled on the shirt, stepped outside of the changing room, accepted Ayako's praises with a patient smile, bought the shirt, then dragged her friend to a nearby bench for a good talk.

"Are you really this nervous for tonight?" Sakura asked, not beating around the bush, having her suspicions confirmed when Ayako gulped nervously at her question. "Don't be. There is no need to worry. I'm sure it'll be fine."

Mostly because the conversation tonight wouldn't actually be about love, but about Magecraft. When Sakura had said to Ayako they would confess their feelings to Shirou that day, she lied, in order to get Ayako to their house without arousing suspicion.

"What? Nervous? Me? Absolutely not! Do you know who you are talking to? I'm Mitsuzuri Ayako and like hell I'm gonna be nervous about th… Okay, yes, I'm nervous." Ayako said, starting out boisterous, yet folding immediately when Sakura gave her an exasperated look. "I- well, I suppose I just can't believe we are actually going to do this."

"Are you having second thoughts?" Sakura asked, losing her exasperated expression in favour of a worried one. "Because if you do, I'm not going to push you to-"

"No no no." Ayako interrupted her, rapidly shaking her head. "I'm not having second thoughts. Hell, it's not you or Shirou or even the confession I'm nervous about. It's everything else."

"…Everything else?" Sakura inquired softly.

"Yeah, I mean, the reactions we are going to get. A three-way relationship isn't exactly normal, you know, especially here in Japan, and I guess I am just not looking forward to what will come our way when it gets out that we are… together together."

"Ah, I see." Sakura nodded in understanding.

She couldn't really relate. Her… 'unique' circumstances had left her with very little care about what others thought of her, barring a select few people, but she did understand now why Ayako was feeling nervous right now.

Ayako was a normal person, with a normal family, who had to think of their reputation. The Mitsuzuris were a respectable family, but if the daughter of that family got herself into a relationship with the city's weird loners, both of them at the same time even, then people would undoubtedly talk, and not in a good way.

"I'm so sorry for putting you in that situation." She immediately apologised, grabbing Ayako's hand in her own. "I had not thought of that at all. I promise I understand if you no longer want to-"

"Would you stop already?" Ayako huffed, reaching out and lightly tapping Sakura on her nose. "I told you I'm not backing down and I meant it. I'm not letting some nosy idiots determine who I'm allowed to be with, not even my family."

"Eh? Your family? But Chiaki-san seemed agreeable to our idea."

"I meant my stupid uncles and aunts, who love to gossip. My dad will get overprotective again, and probably challenge Shirou to a fight or something, as is supposed to be tradition in any family orientated towards martial arts. It's just… a lot to deal with."

Ayako clearly had put some thought into this already, and Sakura brought her hand to her chin as she considered the brunette's words. Society would be upset, but the Mitsuzuris were a tough family, and unlikely to fold under pressure. Even if they might make some trouble, they were unlikely to just throw Ayako out of the house, which was actually Sakura's main concern at the moment.

When she voiced it though, Ayako immediately proclaimed such a thing would not happen.

"And if they do throw me out over this, then I don't want them as family anyway," she muttered. "I'll go live somewhere else."

"You'll always be welcome with us." Sakura smiled brightly, before frowning heavily. "We don't want to come between you and your family though."

"Thank you." Ayako sighed. "And you won't. If they throw me out over this, then the issues go way deeper than just my decision to get into a relationship with you two."

"I suppose. Still, if you want to, we can keep this quiet, or delay the whole thing until we're living by ourselves and have the option of emigrating, to England or the Netherlands or something."

"Tempting, but no. We are going to do this, and we aren't going to make it a secret. We'll deal with whatever comes our way. People condemning us, gossipers who point at us behind our backs, and probably dad challenging Shirou to a fight to prove himself worthy of me. I'll take them all on!"

Sakura was confident she could deal with the first two of those issues. It wasn't like she cared much for the opinion of people whose lives were so incredibly boring and devoid of hardship that they had to resort to harrowing others for amusement. The last matter however was slightly more difficult. Sakura was well aware Shirou knew how to hold back, but if someone was going to reduce their daughter to a prize to fight over, Senpai might not hold back as much as he should.

Losing to a fourteen-year-old would probably greatly sting the pride of Ayako's father, potentially to the point where he would carry a grudge over it, which might impact the brunette herself in some way.

It was unlikely, as the man had been nothing but kind so far, but why take the risk at all when you could avoid it?

"I think Senpai can handle himself, but I don't think it would be a good idea to let him fight your father over this."

"Of course not," Ayako instantly agreed. "I'm not going to let him fight my battles. If dad does something stupid like that, I'll fight him myself."

Not entirely what Sakura was going for, but alright.

The brunette then rose from her seat, slamming her fist into her palm, taking on a dramatic pose. "In fact, I'll fight all of them if I have to. I'm not going to let them stop me from doing what I want to, no matter how 'outraged' or 'worried' they might be."

Sakura smiled brightly at her friend's declaration as Ayako held her dramatic pose for a while.

"Man, that felt good." Ayako sighed as she relaxed again, before pulling Sakura into a hug. "Thanks, I really needed that."

"No problem." Sakura chirped, happily hugging her back.

The brunette was quick to let her go again though, and then grabbed her hand. "Now come, we still have a lot of shopping to do and I'm really feeling like it now. Let's see how far we can get before dinner at Shirou's- no wait, at your place."

Her place.

Sakura nodded with a slightly goofy smile on her face, and Ayako, who was wearing a big grin herself, promptly pulled her along, in much higher spirits than before.

---

'BANG!'

Akazawa Sorei did not cheer in relief when he saw the body of his opponent fall lifelessly to the ground. He did not freeze, he did not sigh, he did not relax. He only kept his position, gun held firm.

The act of killing didn't bother him anymore, not after doing it more times than he bothered to count. It was all an automatic action for him now, something impersonal. He just pulled the trigger and then instantly forgot all about the person he'd killed.

It was cowardly perhaps, but he wasn't a killer at heart. He couldn't keep the number in his mind, let alone the faces of those he had shot. Doing so would likely drive him insane and send him to an early grave.

If the job itself didn't do that first of course.

He and his friends were currently the only ones standing between Fuyuki-City and a force of ruthless gangsters, and he'd be damned if he let them gain any ground whatsoever.

Fujimura-sama had commanded them to hold the line, and hold the line they would.

For now, it was just scouts that they were up against. Stragglers on the fringes of the city, that could be easily put down by experienced men such as himself. If Fujimura-sama were to be believed however, more were coming.

These scouts couldn't be allowed to bring any information back to their leader, so they could either retreat now, or die where they stood.

Moving forward with his partner covering him, Sorei pulled the trigger of his gun several times, one in every three shots taking down a foe. Not stellar accuracy, but acceptable enough.

Eventually, after what felt like hours but was most likely not more than a few minutes, they managed to take down enough intruders to convince the rest to flee.

They had never made it past the fringes of town.

The city was safe for now.

The main force was likely soon to follow, but hopefully, Sorei would have gotten reinforcements by then. Fujimura-sama was already importing weapons and calling everyone together, so it shouldn't be long before they could form an actual defence.

It might not be enough, but it would have to do for now.

---

Though Taiga was eating with her normal fervour and hunger, she was barely tasting anything. Her mind, normally absorbed by whatever delicious food Shirou and Sakura had prepared for her, had far too many other things to be absorbed about.

It really was a damn shame. Ayako had come over for the evening, which was a rare occasion, and Sakura and Shirou had thus put even more effort into cooking than they normally would. It should have been a feast, yet Taiga couldn't enjoy it.

How could she, when things were going so wrong? When gramps was preparing for a war? A war her little brother might unwittingly have had a hand in starting?

No, things were going down the drain, and fast, and Taiga had no clue how to fix this.

She couldn't tell anyone about Shirou being Rakurai. Honestly, it wasn't like anyone would believe her in the first place. A teenage boy, widely known for being peaceful, mellow, and something of a doormat, being Rakurai? The awesome, skilled, and extremely dangerous vigilante? Without knowing just what Shirou actually was, she wouldn't have believed it herself either.

So she couldn't do anything on that front, but she couldn't stop the impending gang war on her own either. If there was a simple way to do that, gramps would have long since found it after all.

Ultimately, the best option she had at the moment was to confront Shirou himself, reveal to him that she knew his secrets, and convince him to help them deal with the Brat and his cronies.

Her little brother was an alien with powers beyond her imagination. He was superhumanly strong, fast, and durable, could control the weather, heal people with a touch, and most importantly, alter people's memories and minds.

Having him on their side would make this gang-war a lot easier, so even if she felt sick at the thought of involving him, she had to do it for the sake of the city and those who lived in it.

She was realistic enough to know however that she was probably not the best person to convince him of that. She was well-aware of her reputation as a not-so-serious woman after all. On that front, it might be better to leave it to gramps, who did have the reputation of a serious man and could probably explain it all much better than she could anyway.

It was something to think about.

"I suppose doing nothing is also nice every once in a while. What about you, Fuji-nee?"

Taiga quickly swallowed her food, realising that Shirou had just asked her a question. As she didn't have a clue what was said, she laughed sheepishly. "I'm sorry, what were we talking about again?"

"What we're all going to do tomorrow," Shirou repeated. "It seems the three of us won't be doing anything all that interesting, but what about you?"

"I'm afraid I won't be doing much either, just a meeting at school." Taiga said, making a dismissive gesture with her hand. "We're getting a new colleague next year, so we'll be going over his papers tomorrow."

"A new teacher?" Shirou cocked his head to the side. "Will he be teaching us too when we attend Homurahara?"

"Most likely, yeah. The newest teachers usually get the first years, to get used to teaching brats. Go easy on him, okay?"

"We will." "Sure thing." Shirou and Ayako promised immediately. Sakura remained quiet though, looking down at the table with a somewhat despondent look, probably because she would have to wait a year more before being able to attend Homurahara.

Naturally, both of her friends immediately moved to comfort her, assuring her that they would still see each other daily.

Well duh. Shirou and Sakura lived together, and Ayako was their friend, so of course they'd see each other every day. No need for such drama.

Teenagers.

Still, now that she had her mind on her future colleague anyway, she couldn't help but think back on the man. She had only met him once, but he was not someone she would easily forget.

He hadn't said all that much, save for what was absolutely necessary, but his very presence and the look in his eyes did all the talking for him. He was ridiculously dangerous, that much was obvious.

Naturally, she had immediately run a background check. If he was someone dangerous to the students, there was no way in hell she'd let him anywhere near the school, not while she had her shinai and still drew breath. He had come up clean though, with a very ordinary backstory and a solid education that made him fully capable of teaching.

She would have sighed in relief and assumed her gut-feelings were wrong…

…if she'd been an airheaded fool who had never heard of anyone ever lying or falsifying information.

You didn't get an aura like that living an ordinary life. No, that new colleague of hers had a very shady past that was probably filled with a lot of dark things. She was sure of it, even if she couldn't prove it.

She had briefly considered sending some guys to make it known to him that he wasn't welcome around children, but she decided against it, mostly because he was living at the Ryuudou temple. Those monks up there were some of the most sensitive and observant people around. If they deemed him safe enough to live there, then he could be trusted, to an extent.

That didn't mean she wouldn't keep an eye on him though.

'One misstep, and you're out.' She thought, gritting her teeth as she thought back on those cold, empty eyes. 'I'm watching you, Kuzuki Souichirou.'

---

Ayako had trouble breathing as she brought the dishes to the kitchen. She almost couldn't bear to look at Shirou, and couldn't help but grin widely at Sakura, who was diligently drying the dishes after Shirou washed them.

They were actually going to do it!

Ayako took another deep, shaky breath, the anticipation sending shivers down her spine.

They just needed to wrap up the cleaning, get themselves comfortable, and then they could ask Shirou to be their boyfriend. At long last.

If only he could work a little bit faster.

"Are you done yet?" she asked, tapping her foot in impatience, as Shirou seemed to work extra slowly and meticulously today. "Come on, you normally never take that long."

"It's barely been two minutes since I started." Shirou protested, looking confused, before quailing slightly under her glare "Okay, okay, I'll work faster. Why don't you and Sakura get seated at the table and I'll join you in a few minutes?"

"Of course, Senpai. Thank you." Sakura immediately agreed, reaching out to grab Ayako and drag her away from the kitchen. The manhandling was very unlike the shy, quiet girl, but the moniker of 'shy' seemed to apply to Sakura less and less as the days went by.

Once they were both seated, Sakura leaned over to whisper in Ayako's ear. "I see you really can't wait?"

"Ugh, I just want to do it already," the brunette complained. "Just like mom said, we should just get it over with, now that everything is normal and peaceful."

"Yes, peaceful." Sakura nodded, turning her head away. For a moment, Ayako could have sworn she saw a flash of guilt in her eyes, but it was gone before she could confirm its existence. "I suppose we should just come clean; we've kept it a secret for long enough now."

"…Yeah." Ayako agreed slowly, wondering where the sudden intensity in the air was coming from. Certainly, a love confession wouldn't require such a militant expression as the one Sakura was now wearing?

Dismissing that line of thought for now, she rehearsed in her mind one more time what she wanted to say to Shirou. She had been thinking it over continuously over the past days, trying to create the perfect confession, and she thought she had everything planned out reasonably well.

Mostly, it would consist of stressing that they did indeed want him as their boyfriend, no matter how much his own self-loathing would try to tell him that they were making a mistake. They wanted him, all of him, flaws included; it was as simple as that.

He was reliable, kind, very competent, and it just made her happy to be in his presence. It was definitely also a plus that he was very attractive. Yet despite that all, he still remained humble and unassuming, never thinking he could take any kind of liberties with them because they had known each other for so long or because he helped them so often.

Granted, sometimes he was too altruistic and unthinkingly trusting of others, and if her mother and Sakura were to be believed, also still carried a trauma from the Great Fire, but she wouldn't let that stop her, or her name wasn't Mitsuzuri Ayako.

In the end, he was someone she could see herself spend the rest of her life with, in happiness-

"Alright, here I am." Shirou suddenly interrupted them as he walked out of the kitchen, scaring the living daylight of her as she was violently ripped from her fantasy. "There, that didn't take so long now, did it?"

"N-No, not at all." Ayako grimaced. 'You could have taken a little longer actually.'

Coughing into her hand once, the brunette put the sudden scare behind her and sat up straight, pointing Shirou towards a seat across from her and Sakura.

He promptly sat down in his appointed spot, and then resolutely locked eyes with her.

She had expected him to be confused about why there was such a serious atmosphere in the house.

He wasn't.

He looked purposeful and determined, almost as much as Ayako herself, as if he too had something planned for the evening.

What was that about-?

"I think it's time for a confession now." Sakura suddenly spoke up from next to her, shooting Ayako a look that was hard to discern. There seemed to be guilt, but also determination and a hint of an apology. "Before we go any further with our relationships, you, Ayako, need to know the truth, about Senpai and me."

…Why was Sakura addressing her instead of Shirou?

"I agree." Shirou said calmly, pinning Ayako in place with a hard stare. "This has been long overdue. As our friend, you have a right to know the complete truth about who we are, what we have done, and how much we have deceived you over the past year."

"…Right to know?" Ayako laughed nervously, completely lost. "That sounds like something out of some bad crime-film. Come on, I'm sure it isn't that bad-"

"It is." Shirou interrupted her. "There is so much we haven't told you about ourselves, and a lot of it is in fact very bad."

"And we can't do anything else or go any further until we have told you everything." Sakura finished, taking Ayako's hands in her own. "You are our friend, but we can't call ourselves your friends if we continue keeping so many secrets from you. So even if you may leave us after this, we have to tell you the truth."

"N-Now, guys, calm down. Y-You are exaggerating." Ayako protested, unwilling to believe that the two kindest people she knew could have the kind of secrets that would make her break off their friendship. "It's not like you murdered anyone, right?"

Shirou's mouth shut with an audible 'tick', his gaze flitting away for a split second, a tinge of shame appearing in his eyes. Next to him, Sakura flinched hard.

"…You did?"

"…Please forget about that for now. That is not how we wanted to begin this conversation." Shirou groaned, before wincing at her shocked look. "I-I mean, I swear I have a good explanation for it."

Ayako gaped at him. He had killed someone? He, the kind fool, the actual doormat, the most harmless guy she ever had the pleasure of knowing, had ended someone's life?

No, Shirou would never do that, not in a thousand years. The kind man she knew him to be would never… He had to be joking…

…Joking?

"Oh, I get it, you're making fun of me." Ayako said, clinging to that last hope. "Haha, very funny guys, but really, you scared me a bit there-"

"Senpai isn't joking, Ayako." Sakura whispered. "B-But he is in fact skipping some very important information and context."

"…What?"

"Sakura is right." Shirou agreed instantly, before turning towards Sakura. "Starting slowly is clearly not an option anymore, should we just tell her the most important things first?"

"Though that might be more confusing, it does seem to be the only option." Sakura closed her eyes in resignation. "Now that we dumped this on her, we better tell her everything at once, before she decides we are crazy killers."

"Guys, 'she' is right here you know." Ayako interrupted them, waving her hands in indignation. "And 'she' would really like that context right about now, preferably before 'she' starts screaming in panic."

"Well then, it's a long story." Shirou sighed, turning back to her. "Please, will you hear us out first? I promise it will make much more sense once you know everything."

"And if not?" Ayako snapped, looking between her friends for any sign of aggression. "What if I want to leave right now?"

"Then you can leave, we won't stop you." Sakura promised, looking at her with a resigned smile. "But we really, sincerely hope you'll give us a chance."

Still looking between them, Ayako realised they weren't lying. They were really going to let her go if she wanted to leave, and neither of them would do anything to stop her.

By all rights, she should run. She should flee and never look back, break all bonds she had with these two, and pretend they never existed.

Yet, something stopped her from doing just that. Something prevented her from screaming in terror and running away as fast as she could.

Perhaps it was the utter absence of fear?

By all rights, Ayako should have been terrified out of her mind, sitting across from a pair of murderers, but she wasn't. Against all reason and logic, she felt just as safe as ever in their presence. They wouldn't harm her, no matter what, of that she was absolutely sure.

And it was that certainty that made her hesitate to actually go through with running away.

She looked at her friends one more time, and then sighed deeply, hoping she wouldn't regret the choice she was about to make.

"Fine, I'll listen to you." She huffed, before sternly holding up a finger. "But you will tell me everything. I mean it, no leaving things out. If you don't want me to run away screaming, you better start convincing me why I shouldn't."

"Alright." Shirou smiled at her, looking so relieved it was almost painful, while Sakura looked moments away from hugging Ayako, but held herself back out of a sense of proper timing. "Well, I suppose we should start at the very beginning."

"That would be best." Ayako agreed, trying and failing to settle herself into a comfortable position, having accepted that today's confessions would be of a more serious nature than planned.

"Magic is real." Sakura spoke up without preamble. "And we can wield it."

"Huh?" Ayako frowned, wondering why Sakura felt the need to crack a joke at a time like this. "Sakura, this isn't the time for jokes, Shirou is trying to… to…"

Her voice tapered off, her eyes becoming wide as saucers, as she was suddenly faced with Shirou generating sparks of lightning… from his hand.

Literally. There was nothing in or on his hand, yet lightning was still sparking off it. She reached out to verify if it was real, only to have to retract her hand with a yelp as she received an actual electric shock.

Shirou wasn't done though, as a gesture with his free hand, the one without the lightning, suddenly created actual rainclouds, hanging stationary above the pots still standing in the kitchen, with actual rain falling out of it a second later.

She knew it was real, because she could see the pots actually being filled with water.

Shirou continued however, now making swords appear out of nowhere. One moment, his hand was empty, then, the next moment, in a flash of light, an actual katana appeared in said hand. It wasn't an illusion either, as Shirou immediately handed it over to her, allowing her to feel the tang of steel in her hand, before making it disappear again in a shower of dancing sparks with a mere gesture.

The hammer that suddenly appeared and started floating above them, without anything holding it up, was just icing on the cake by that point.

By the time Shirou started drawing glowing symbols that generated wind, fire, and streams of water, also out of nowhere, Ayako was again lucid enough to consciously recognise that Sakura had spoken the truth.

"Alright." She said, holding up her hands. "Alright, alright, alright, I get it. Magic. It's real, you two can wield it, it's incredibly cool and you two never told me, you meanies. How does this relate to murder?"

"We are sorry for not telling you, but we had no other choice." Sakura apologised, bowing her head. "It's a law for all beings of the Moonlit World to never reveal the existence of Mystery to the mundanes, at the pain of death. Secrecy is a key aspect of our world, and unfortunately, so is violence."

"The Moonlit World?" Ayako asked, lifting an eyebrow to show she expected an explanation.

And hell, did she get one. The next thirty minutes were spent talking about the shadow world that apparently existed right under her nose, almost Harry Potter-style if she had to guess.

As for what made a person capable of using Magecraft - as magic was apparently called - that were Magic Circuits, some kind of nerves or blood vessels, that stored the so-called 'Od' until it was used for Magecraft.

"A whole world, just being there without anyone knowing." She mumbled after Sakura and Shirou finished giving her a general overview. "Filled with magic."

"Yup." Sakura smiled. "Most Magi live in the Mundane World, pretending to be normal while hiding their Magecraft in their houses, but there are also larger areas dedicated to Magi only, such as the Clocktower, which is almost like the capital of the Moonlit World. Now, there are likely far more places and headquarters out there, but I don't know much about those."

"Amazing." Ayako breathed in wonder. "Actual magic and wizards... Are there magical creatures too? Please tell me you guys have unicorns!"

"Not as many as there used to be," Shirou said, his voice a strange mix of regret and relief. "There are no dragons, phoenixes, or unicorns around anymore, or gods for that matter, they are all in the Reverse Side of the World now, but there are still vampires, of sorts. We call them Dead Apostles."

"Vampires?" Ayako asked, coming out of her elated trance at the mention of that word. "The sparkling Twilight-kind, or the bloodsucking, monstrous, 'I want your blood'-kind?"

"The monstrous kind, unfortunately. I actually killed one myself several months back. They are terrible creatures, only out for blood. They see humans as nothing more than cattle to be consumed, they are immortal, and every human they bite changes into one of the Dead, basically zombie-slaves of the Apostle, that hunt other humans to bring more blood to their master."

"Okay, wow, that's terrible." No sparkly, handsome hunk-vampires then. "So, was that, eh, 'Dead Apostle' also the murder you admitted to just now, or…?"

"No, it is not. The murder I committed was on a human being."

"Ah." Ayako slumped as her hope was extinguished.

As the conversation continued, Sakura and Shirou heavily stressed that vampires were apparently just one of the many dangers that the Moonlit World held. Most magical creatures might be gone, but those had been replaced by plenty of human monsters.

"Magi do not think like normal people." Sakura declared with a bitter expression. "Morality is not a word they connect any meaning or value to. Murder is not something abhorrent, it is expected, and only punishable if you are stupid enough to get caught. Children are property, mundane people are cattle to be used in experiments or as slaves, and all that matters is research and results, everything else is inferior."

"T-They attack mundanes too?" Ayako asked nervously, before trying to crack a joke to lighten the mood. "To feed to their secret dragons in their secret lairs or something?"

"To viciously and cruelly tear them apart for their sick, useless experiments." Sakura corrected her sternly. "Or to silence witnesses. Entire villages have been destroyed for seeing something they weren't supposed to, Ayako."

…So, worse than being dragonfood.

"For you, Ayako, it's not the vampires or other magical creatures that are the most dangerous." Shirou told her. "You are far likelier to be killed by a Magus. There are more of them, they are brazen, and usually, they do not care to stop each other from committing atrocities."

"But how can an entire population be so cruel?" Ayako asked in consternation. Had she stumbled upon a world of magical Nazis or something?

"To be a Magus is to walk with death." Shirou said with a shrug. "Everything in the Moonlit World is out to kill you. The monsters, your fellow Magi, even your very own Magic. It makes for very jaded and hard people, and many Magi fall into cruelty and megalomania because of it."

"And you said you two are Magi?" Ayako asked, horrified by the possibility of her dears being like that.

"No, we are not, we only call ourselves that because it's a convenient term." Sakura said gently. "Senpai is powerful, but he doesn't qualify as a Magus at all. In Magus-terms, he is an absolute failure. He can't even be called a Third-Rate, he is just a Spellcaster. I on the other hand don't know how to cast the simplest spells and so can't ever truly be considered a Magus."

Noticing the frown forming on Shirou's face at Sakura's words, Ayako quickly latched on to that. "Oh, why is that? Don't you have Magic Circuits?"

"That is another story entirely, and it requires you to really understand the basics." Shirou sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Do you think you know enough about the Moonlit World in general now for us to go into more detail?"

"If I don't get something, I'll ask." Ayako assured him, eager to hear more even with the growing headache she was getting from the information-overload and the fact that her world had been turned upside down several times in the past hours.

"Alright." Sakura said, her eyes turning hard. "I'll tell you my story."

Ayako immediately noticed the very uncharacteristic look in her friend's eyes, as well as the unshed tears that were starting to form. "Hey, wow, stop! If it is so difficult to talk about, please don't bother for my sake-"

"We promised though." Sakura protested, the first tears now actually starting to stream down her cheeks even as Shirou wrapped an arm around her. "So never mind me, I just… need a moment, but then I can go on-"

"Absolutely not! Not if you are like this before you have even spoken a word." Ayako denied, not wanting to hear about something that was making Sakura so upset. "Besides, I'm getting a headache from the information-overload anyway, so you can save this for later, when I have the proper emotional support ready for you."

Cookies for instance, as well as milk and blankets, though plenty of hugs would be the most important to have ready.

"A headache?" Shirou asked in concern, before falling silent as Ayako shook her head, motioning for him to drop that matter. "Very well, we'll save this for later."

"Much appreciated. So, how did you get involved in all of this, Shirou?" Ayako asked, trying to change the subject after patting Sakura on her head to cheer her up a bit, with some success. "If Magi normally don't talk to each other at all, how did you meet Sakura?"

"Well, first of all, I had no idea Sakura was a Magus when I first met her." Shirou admitted frankly. "I only saw Sakura herself back then, and by the time I did find out, she was already a friend, so I didn't care."

"I would never have expected any different from you." Ayako grinned, giving him an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

"The rest of the story... actually ties in with Sakura's story." Shirou told her with a frown, looking at the plum-haired girl with clear concern. "We already said we wouldn't talk about it, but if you really want to hear it..."

"No, like I said, I'll wait." Ayako assured him quickly, hastily looking around for a different subject, eventually finding it in Shirou's hammer.

"So, would you mind telling me about that hammer up there." Ayako quickly continued, pointing upwards to the weapon that was still floating above them, just hanging out there, inconspicuously.

"That's Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor, the Norse god of Thunder." Shirou explained, accepting the change in subject without a hitch. "It arrived at the beginning of winter this year, right before the winter holidays."

"That's Thor's weapon?" Ayako asked sceptically. She knew a bit about Thor from some of the manga she sto-borrowed from Midori after he got bored of them, but wasn't he, like, a real, actual god? "Wait, I thought you said that gods weren't around anymore? Does that not count for their weapons?"

"It does. Their weapons, aptly named Divine Constructs, are gone too." Shirou assured her. "This Mjolnir is from a different universe."

Ayako honestly wanted to say she was surprised by the concepts of different universes, but hey, why not?

"I guess alternate dimensions aren't that big of a shock then." She mumbled, before falling silent as Shirou shook his head.

"Not just from an alternate dimension, Ayako. A different universe, one where the rules are different, and the creatures are different. Where mankind has encountered countless aliens and has built machines that make even the True Magics seem obsolete."

There was wonder in Shirou's eyes as he described this other universe, and a glance at Mjolnir showed that the hammer was happily twirling through the air.

"Okay, that sounds very cool," Ayako interrupted Shirou, ignoring the hammer for now. "But what's the deal with the hammer exactly? Why do you have it?"

"Thor, the other universe-Thor, before he died, transferred his power to that hammer and left it for someone he considered a worthy heir to find. The moment I picked it up, a fraction of his power got transferred to me." Shirou explained shortly, scratching his cheek with an awkward smile. "Apparently, I'm changing into a god now. It has been very useful so far, allowing me to save a lot of people I could never have without it."

Right. He was changing into an actual god. A… god…

Ayako stared, speechless, at her friend, who by his own admission had a future of godhood to look forward to, while seemingly remaining entirely unaffected by the prospect, except by the fact he could go and save more people.

He really was a fool, wasn't he?

"What can you do then?" Ayako asked curiously, before blinking when Shirou chuckled softly.

"I'm sorry, it's exactly the same question Sakura asked me when I told her about Mjolnir." Shirou smiled. "Well, my new abilities include heightened durability, as in, I am actually bulletproof now; increased strength, as in, I can lift a car or break through a concrete wall with a punch; I can control storms and lightning; I can regenerate and heal very quickly, both myself and others, as well as purge everything I consider unnatural, such as pollution, but also vampires."

Ayako felt her eyebrows rise with every point on the list. He might not be a god, but if he thought he was still human with baseline abilities like that, he was either delusional or in denial.

"Anyway, I felt like I had to do something with that power, and since Mjolnir decided fighting crime was the way to go, which was also my original plan by the way, I decided to become a vigilante, though by now, the scale in which I act is somewhat… greater than I expected back then."

"A vigilante." Ayako deadpanned, making Shirou again rub the back of his head. "Doesn't that seem a little convoluted? I mean, how much success did you have with that?"

"Senpai has had a lot of success so far." Sakura pouted, before she smirked evilly, instantly sending all kinds of alarm-bells ringing in Ayako's head. "He has many fans too, with you among them, Ayako-chan, so I think he is doing pretty well."

"Me?" Ayako spluttered. "What do you mean, me? I'm not a fan of any vigilante. Well, except Rakurai, but that's hardly… Wait a minute!"

No. No way! Absolutely no way! That was impossible!

Ayako looked from Sakura to Shirou and back, and then pointed at Shirou with a shaking finger, her mouth opening and closing uselessly.

"Y-Y-You are Rakurai?" Ayako eventually got out, feeling very clearly how an enormous amount of blood rushed to her face when Shirou nodded. "Oh god, I followed your websites, I praised your actions, I declared to your face that I was a fan, I gave you my undying allegiance!"

Not giving Shirou a chance to respond, she whirled to Sakura, gripping her shoulders in a death-grip. "How long have you known?! How long have you let me embarrass myself in front of him?! I thought we were friends! How could you do this to me?! How?!"

"Only a week or so." Sakura protested weakly, waving her hands to stave off the angry brunette. "If I'd known sooner, I would have told you, I swear."

Ayako glared at her friend some more, before deciding that she was speaking the truth.

"Very well." She huffed, releasing Sakura and sitting back down from where she had risen, pointedly looking away from Shirou. "Just don't think I'll be following you anymore, you just lost yourself a fan."

"Ah, that's regrettable," Shirou sighed with a sheepish smile, not seeming all that upset. "The messages you wrote for me on those websites were amus- heartening, and really kind too."

"…So you read those?"

"I did, Sakura told me you worked hard on them."

"…I'll just take what I can and be happy that you read them at least… hold on, that's not what we were talking about."

Shaking her head a few times, Ayako brought her mind back to the serious issues they had been discussing.

Shirou had still not told her just who he had killed, though, if he was Rakurai, then perhaps she did know already. It had been in the news after all.

"They said in the news that Rakurai killed a man during one of his raids," she began slowly. "Is that true?"

"Yes," Shirou confirmed, his sheepish attitude completely gone, a forlorn expression on his face and his hands gripping the table so hard it was audibly cracking. "He, Oni, left me no choice. He was going to kill his hostages, and I tried to stop him, and we got into a wrestling match over his gun and I..."

The redhead shrugged, an action that could almost be taken for a casual movement if it hadn't been for the empty look in his eyes. "I snapped him in half, just like that."

Ayako did not know what to say. What did one even say after being told that one's friend had 'snapped someone in half'?

Was it naive of her to assume she would never hear someone say such a thing?

Looking up again, the brunette saw that Sakura hadn't sat idle after Shirou had made his declaration. The purple-haired girl had reached over the table to take his hand in hers, while giving Ayako a sideway glance.

Recognising the signal for what it was, Ayako cleared her throat once, before breathing out deeply.

"I'm probably getting so much bad karma for this." She mumbled, before looking at Shirou with a steadfast glare. "But I won't tell anyone, and I-I'll stay your friend as well."

For a few moments, both Shirou and Sakura stared at her as if she had suddenly sprouted golden wings from her back, before they smiled brighter than ever before.

Naturally, she found herself in a three-way hug barely a second later, because everyone was being very physical today. Not that she minded, not in the slightest.

"Thank you, Ayako," Shirou said, before letting go of Sakura and her. "Now, I understand that this was a lot of information to take in, and that you are most likely tired from all the excitement by now, so why don't we call it a night and continue this later? There is still a lot more we need to tell you, but that can wait."

"Yeah, I guess it would be best to cut this short." Ayako readily agreed. "My head's already spinning, and I don't think I can handle much more."

"Huh, I guess this would all be very overwhelming to you." Sakura said with a cute head-tilt. "We have known about this our entire lives, so I think we don't realise anymore just how exhausting this is."

"You're right." Shirou agreed, also looking surprised at that realisation. "Well, it's getting late, and it's time we put an end to this for today. Do you want me to take you home, Ayako?"

That would probably be for the best. Ayako could feel the fatigue creeping up on her now that the adrenaline was wearing off, and she needed her sleep. On the other hand, just going home now and leaving her friends didn't feel right.

"Nope." She denied his offer, baring her teeth in a wolfish grin. "I'm staying here for the night."

"Eh?" Sakura gasped while Shirou just blinked. "Stay here? Is that really alright?"

"Mom already said it was fine before I came here." Ayako said a dismissive tone, digging her phone out of her pocket. "I just had to give her a call."

"Oh well, you are always welcome here, Ayako." Shirou shook off his surprise. "I'll prepare one of the guestrooms-"

"No need." Ayako interrupted him sharply, a plan forming in her mind. "Let's just all prepare to go to bed now, we'll deal with the details later."

Her friends blinked in tandem, clearly not understanding why she wanted them to delay preparing a room for her, but that would become clear soon enough.

After putting on their nightclothes, with Ayako borrowing a set from Sakura, and brushing their teeth, Shirou went to get a futon for her, with Sakura accompanying him.

Not wasting any time, Ayako hurried to Sakura's room to pick up her futon, quickly carrying it towards Shirou's room and laying it down besides his futon.

After that, she went outside again and met up with the other two, the third futon, hers, currently in Shirou's hands. Ayako then initiated the last phase of her plan.

"Splendid, you have it." She smirked, before taking the futon out of the stunned redhead's hands and turning back to enter his room again. "Just let me put this one next to the other two and we'll be set for the night."

"A-Ayako! W-What are you doing?" Sakura eeped at the sight of the three futons lying next to each other. "T-That isn't proper!"

"I'm fixing us a place to sleep." Ayako smiled brightly, acting like she saw nothing wrong or strange about it at all. "And you know what really isn't proper? Leaving a poor girl like me alone in the night after telling her scary stories all evening. You better take responsibility, both of you, and take care of me."

"I honestly doubt you need me to take care of you." Shirou protested, looking unsure about whether to stop her or not.

Ignoring him for the moment, Ayako reached out and grabbed Sakura, who offered very little resistance, quickly laying her down on the left futon, before trying to do the same with Shirou.

For a few moments, he resisted, not budging an inch, but a pleading look from Ayako, and what she suspected was a similar look from Sakura behind her, had him sigh and give in.

He laid down on the futon in the middle, while Ayako took the right one. Not wasting a moment, she snuggled up to him, grabbing his arm in a hold, seeing Sakura do the same on the other side.

Shirou stiffened momentarily at their action, before he relaxed again.

Ayako smirked as her plan went off without a hitch. Shirou could pretend all he wanted that he was a proper gentleman who didn't like touching girls at all, but he liked the hugs they gave him, of that she was sure.

"Perfect." She announced with a grin when they were all settled. "Good night."

"Good night" "Sweet dreams". Her friends replied dutifully, before falling silent.

The evening had been strange and filled with wondrous tales, revealing to Ayako an entire new world that had been hiding under her nose the entire time.

It seemed like something out of a storybook, and it would have been, if it wasn't for most of that world being rotten and evil. She wasn't going to shrink back from that though. If these two lived in that world, then so would she.

She couldn't help but feel a warm tingle at the knowledge that they trusted her enough to tell her all of this. It was a capital crime in their world apparently, but they had still told her. She was literally the first mundane person they had ever revealed their true selves to.

If the love confession hadn't been delayed, she would be kissing them silly right now.

At least sleeping together was enough of a prize for her to work up a bit more patience with that.

---

Taiga stood nervously across from her grandfather, who looked not at all amused, a gun on his hip and a cigar in his mouth. He only smoked when things got really stressful, and from what she had heard, the current situation more than warranted a cigar.

"Taiga," her grandfather suddenly bit out, making her snap at attention. "We are under attack; I need you to help me organise our defences and our counterstrike."

"Yes, grandfather. Is this the same enemy as before?"

"The Brat, yes. He's been making attempts to get into the city, but so far, the boys at the border have shown themselves competent enough to stop everything he's thrown at us. I want that to continue."

"He won't succeed, grandfather." Taiga assured him.

"Damn right he won't." Raiga barked, a vicious smile coming to his face. "We'll show him what happens to those who mess with us."

"We'll kick them out of the city so hard their grandchildren will feel it." Taiga agreed, sporting a toothy grin of her own. "I suppose I'll tell Sakura-chan and Shirou that I won't be coming over until next week then."

"It's probably for the best." Raiga nodded, the viciousness in his posture making place for tired resignation. "They shouldn't get involved in this. The machinations of the underworld are not something they should know of. God knows it can be hard to realise literal wars are being fought in the shadow of the cities."

"Wars that are usually fought with blackmail, intimidation, and money. Shoot-outs like this are very rare." Taiga pointed out, frowning slightly.

"Incredibly rare, fortunately." Her grandfather nodded. "They are not something that should ever happen to begin with, but these are strange and confusing times. All because of that damned fool Rakurai."

"Eh?! What are you talking about?" Taiga took a step back, feeling the bottom drop out of her stomach at the mention of Shirou's alter ego. "This isn't Rakurai's faul-"

"It is." Gramps cut her off, swinging an arm to the side as if slapping away her protests. "If he hadn't poked his nose where it doesn't belong, all of this wouldn't be happening."

"We would still have an alive Oni on our hands." Taiga protested angrily, feeling she had to defend her little brother. "This Brat wouldn't have magically disappeared either, you know."

"Oni was a known and predictable enemy," Raiga riposted. "We'd still have a stalemate with him, and the Brat would never have managed to get so far if that damned vigilante hadn't brought so much chaos."

"Oh? So the great leader of the Fujimura-clan was happy with a stalemate?" Taiga sneered, balling her fists in anger. "This sudden cowardice doesn't suit you, gramps."

"Regardless of what suits me, we are in this situation because of Rakurai." Her grandfather repeated, making her grit her teeth in frustration "He was short-sighted, foolish, arrogant, he didn't plan for what his actions would bring about, and due to this, we have suffered and will suffer unnecessary deaths. He is a ridiculous clown, and a danger to society-"

"SHIROU IS NOT A CLOWN!" Taiga blew up on her grandfather. "HE IS NOT A DANGER, AND I WILL NOT HAVE YOU HERE, SLANDERING HIM. HE IS A HERO-"

Taiga froze, clasping a hand over her mouth, realising too late she'd let herself be manipulated.

"I knew it!" Raiga crowed triumphantly, rising from his chair with a large grin on his face. "No wonder Rakurai always knew his way around Fuyuki so well. Shirou is an accomplice of his and has been passing on informati- Wait! Hold on! Stop! What did you just say!?"

"…Accomplice?" Taiga cocked her head to the side, frowning deeply at her grandfather, who apparently knew something but not nearly everything. "What do you mean by 'accomplice'?"

Her grandfather didn't react to her inquiry, merely staring vacantly at her for a few seconds, his mouth half-open in shock, before he slowly sank back into his chair, putting his head in his hands.

"Shirou… is Rakurai?" He whispered, sounding absolutely incredulous. "Rakurai… is Shirou? Impossible. No. No, Taiga, you are joking."

"Oi, I'm not!" Taiga shouted angrily, not liking the insinuation she was untrustworthy. "I overheard him say it, and it makes perfect sense if you think about it. I mean, it's a bit strange that he would be capable of doing all those awesome things, but there's a perfectly good explanation for that. Shirou's a lot more powerful than you think."

"I-I know." Raiga said, still completely out of it. "Kiritsugu said… he said Shirou was advancing nicely with his Craft, but… but he never said the boy was this far already. He never gave me the impression that Shirou would be capable of… That he could… Gods, to think we misjudged him so badly… Shirou is Rakurai, gods almighty."

"Kiri? Shirou's Craft?" Taiga felt she was getting a headache. "What does Kiri have to do with this? What are you talking about?"

"Well, magic of course." Her grandfather huffed, not even seeming to realise just how ridiculous he sounded. "Kiritsugu told me about their kind of people, but I knew about the Moonlit World even before then. How could I not, with them fucking up this city every sixty-or-so years?"

Magic? Shirou could do magic on top of being an alien?

"As for Shirou himself, realising he had something to do with Rakurai was easy enough, we all know about his dream, not to mention the way you were behaving whenever the subject of the vigilante came up." Raiga went on, ignoring her sheepish, embarrassed laugh. "I just had to trick you into confessing. Granted, I had no clue that Shirou is Rakurai, I thought he was just an informant or something, but I knew you knew something. That's why I was being so obtuse a minute ago."

"You were lying? To provoke me into telling you what I knew?" Taiga asked, indignant yet also hopeful. "You don't actually think Shirou is at fault for all of this?"

"No, he definitely is, to some extent," Raiga huffed, snuffing out Taiga's hope immediately. "It was foolish of him to not see the amount of chaos he would cause, though I suppose that is now a bit more understandable. No wonder I sometimes got the idea the vigilante was behaving like a kid."

"I… He… That is…" Taiga wanted to deny Shirou's guilt, to present counterarguments as to why he was blameless, but both she and gramps knew very well she didn't have any. It was undeniable that Shirou had played a part in this mess, even if unintentionally.

"Now don't look so down, you. I didn't say the fault was only his." Raiga continued, bringing back a spark of hope again. "The ones that are most responsible for our current problems are the Brat and his men. Shirou didn't force them to do anything, he didn't tell them to become criminals and flaunt the law, that was all them and the blame for that should be placed squarely at their feet."

Well, that was something at least.

Before she could continue however, something else occurred to her, something her grandfather had just said several minutes ago.

"You know what Shirou is?" She asked sharply, momentarily letting the whole Rakurai-issue lie. "You said Kiri was one too?"

"Ah, yes." Raiga confirmed, taking another drag from his cigar. "And they are hardly the only ones of their kind."

There were more aliens in the city? Her gramps had been aware of them for years? That was… surprising, yet also strangely relieving.

"I was actually planning on informing you about them soon." Raiga admitted. "I wanted to go over it with Shirou first, secrets and all, you understand, but I suppose this is as good an occasion as any, so please, Taiga, sit down and-"

"I was going to organise the defences though." Taiga reminded him, knowing she had to set her priorities. "We'll have to save the explanation for later."

"…Very well, but before you go, can you tell Shirou I would like to talk to him? No, I'm not going to cuss him out or anything, Taiga, so get that anger under control, I merely wish to talk and to help him understand the consequences of his actions."

"You agreed he wasn't at fault."

"I agreed that he wasn't the only one at fault, but his actions did indirectly lead to this. Don't worry too much though. I think, with his help, I should be able to salvage the situation."

"I'll tell him then," Taiga promised, trusting that her gramps knew what he was doing. She had been contemplating on telling him anyway, precisely with the intention that gramps and Shirou would work together, so, in the end, this worked out like she wanted it to.

"Thank you. Now go. The attack will begin soon and there's not a moment to lose. Too bad though, I had such an awesome story. It's not every day you learn of magic after all."

That was indeed a story she was looking forward to. She would have to deal with an annoying gangster first, but after that, she would definitely make Gramps tell her everything.

Magical aliens. When exactly did the world stop making sense?

---

'When did the world stop making sense?'

The question kept going through Rin's head, repeating itself over and over again until nothing seemed to be like it once was.

Her living room, normally so warm and inviting, was cold and empty today, lacking the warmth and familiarity she had always associated it with. The entire house seemed cold and empty, just like it had ever since she had come back from Emiya's house.

After Sakura had revealed… everything.

Rin didn't want to believe it, she didn't, absolutely not. It had to be false. Sakura had to be mistaken!

Not about the worms, or Zouken torturing her. No, Rin more than believed that was true. But her father, Tohsaka Tokiomi, Magus, honourable man, and kind father, would never have given away his daughter if he'd known what would be done to her.

S-Sakura was mistaken. She was angry, upset, as she had every right to be, and lashing out against her father. That had to be it. She was just blaming everyone involved regardless of actual guilt.

But Sakura had sounded so incredibly sure of herself…

Never had she said, 'I'm quite sure that' or 'I believe that'. When she accused their father, it was with absolute certainty that she was right. That Tokiomi had known precisely what would happen, but that he simply hadn't cared at all.

She had to be mistaken. That wasn't the kind of man her father was. Her father was strict but fair, driven but loving, cold but also kind. That was the man Rin remembered him to be. Surely, she couldn't be so incredibly wrong in her judgement?

Rin closed her eyes, desperately trying to think of something, anything, that would prove that her father was not the monster Sakura believed him to be. Anything would do.

Almost automatically, her mind brought forth images of a happier time. When she was playing with Sakura, with their parents watching on. When she practiced extremely simple Magecraft with her father, who seemed so proud of her whenever she did things right on the first try. When her mother would laugh with her as father tried to teach something to Kirei, who could only look on comically as his spells failed.

The memories had never failed to bring warmth to her stomach, and they didn't fail to do so this time either.

For a short while, Rin allowed herself to indulge in the warmth, to purge herself of the worst of her doubt and confusion, before she pushed those memories aside. They weren't what she was looking for, they were just images, moments captured in her memory, that provided her little knowledge.

Rin then frowned, suddenly realising she didn't know what she was supposed to be looking for. What would be enough to prove, at least to herself, that her father was not a monster?

Eventually, at a loss, Rin decided to just dig as many memories up as she could and try to find anything that stood out.

She began digging up whatever memories she had of her father, not only the good ones, but also all other memories she normally didn't bother with.

She'd always had an excellent memory, and before long, she had hours upon hours of research material together in her mind, which she immediately began shifting through.

At first, she didn't notice anything off. Nothing that suggested that her father was some uncaring bastard that would give away his child to a monster merely because it was convenient.

As she kept on going however, Rin started taking note of some strange things.

No matter where she looked, how often she looked, or how much she concentrated, she was unable to remember even a single instance where her father said he loved her, or even just something remotely similar to that.

It was always 'good work', or 'you are powerful, Rin', or 'keep up this performance'.

Had he always had such a calculative expression in his eyes while she was practising Magecraft? Where was the tenderness that she normally associated with him? Where were the kind smiles, the ones that Ayako would give her when they talked?

Rin felt increasingly sick, as she started to notice that her father had never smiled at her the way Ayako and Emiya did. It was always a hard, satisfied smile, one that you wore when a project was progressing well, never a loving, tender one.

T-That didn't prove anything however. Just because Rin's memory was faulty, just because she was stupid and dumb and unable to remember such things didn't mean they had never happened.

She'd prove Sakura wrong; she'd prove that her father was kind.

That he loved her.

There had to be something…

---

Not much action in this chapter, though that should change soon enough, now that the Rakurai-arc nears its climax and subsequent ending. Yes people, the vigilante-stint was never something Shirou was going to do for the entire story, at least not so frequently.

The Clocktower-arc is also approaching fast, but I won't give any spoilers. All I can say is that it too will be long. Important characters are also introduced, and progress is made.

Once more my eternal gratitude to Crazylich79, Liamrodhunson110, Tungstencat, Woggie and Manram.

Fate: Hammer Time Server link : discord. gg /YaZv JJj

No Omake this time. Sorry.

And Ted is now vanishing like dust in the wind. It's all we are anyway.